In modern product development, a product is nowadays developed as well as managed and modified over the entire product life cycle with a digital mockup. Such a digital mockup (DMU) has a product structure of the product that consists of modules, individual components and their geometry in correct positional arrangement. The purpose of the digital mockup consists of replacing the physical mockup (PMU) and of making available different views and functions of the product. For example, studies such as installation and removal studies, collision tests, simulations and buildability tests may be carried out on the basis of the digital mockup. The digital mockup also makes it possible to improve the time and cost pressure as well as the management of a diversity of variations with respect to coordination, analysis and concretizing of development results.
A digital mockup may represent a realistic description of a product. It consists of document attributes and structures, for example, tree structures that reflect the product structure, and therefore comprises a unique data set that refers to a certain end product (e.g., vehicle or aircraft).
Consequently, a digital mockup is able to illustrate the product in the form of a 3-D illustration, for example, on a computer platform. The departments involved over the product life cycle, for example, development or servicing, may access the digital mockup in order to retrieve information or incorporate changes.
However, it is extremely difficult to make available a high-performance digital mockup with a large number of components and product structures for larger product structures, for example, in the aircraft industry.